What type of visit is it? Are your guests coming for a meal only? Are they spending the day, or several nights? This will determine how you prioritize rooms that need to be cleaned. Who is coming? Are we talking about a future mother-in-law, or your best friend from college who stepped over your dirty undies for four years and knows how you really are? How much time do you have until the doorbell rings? Step 1: Take a deep breath, get out your calendar and some paper, sit down at your table. Basically, it can be expanded or contracted according what’s needed at the time. And even now when my house is in much better shape and I am able to have people over somewhat regularly, I use it to get the house ready for a special event. I was stressed out.īut I’ve also used these same steps to keep myself on track getting ready for a party that’s a week or two away. I remember saying “no” to everything (with my reason being that I had to get my house clean for Thanksgiving). Honestly, that was during the deepest darkness of my slob-issues. I have quite a bit that I want to do to be ready, but it’s vastly different from the last time I hosted three years ago. Because of the deslobification process I’ve been going through for over a year now, I’m feeling OK. This is my year to host the Thanksgiving meal for my side of the family. You know, start cleaning the living room and end up running out for paint to completely re-decorate the entryway. It’s nothing life-changing, or even new-fangled, but it keeps me on track.īecause it’s just so easy to get off track. I generally try to avoid giving advice around here, but over the years, I’ve come up with some basic steps that I use to get the house in shape for a party. And if your home is messy (or worse than messy), you’re probably already experiencing panic at the thought of getting it clean and ready for the guests who will ring your doorbell in the next month or so. I’m guessing that there are very few people who host holiday gatherings without feeling any stress at all.

Daily jigsaw wash